Incumbent President Rouhani Wins Iranian Elections

With a substantial turnout for Iran's presidential elections on Friday, incumbent President Hassan Rouhani won with a resounding majority. With almost all of the votes counted, Rouhani got 23.5 million votes compared to 15.8 million for his nearest challenger, hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, according to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.Rouhani told national television later on Friday that the message of the election was one of "Iran living in peace and friendship with the world."He said the election showed Iran is ready to promote friendly global relations "based on mutual respect and its national interests."However he added that Iranians will not accept "humiliation and threats, this is the most important message that our nation expectsto be heard by all - particularly world powers.""I congratulate the great victory of the Iranian nation in creating a huge and memorable epic in the continuation of the path of 'wisdom and hope'," tweeted Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, referring to the government's slogan. The Interior Ministry reported that 40 million ballots were cast out of 56 million registered voters, representing a 70 percent turnout, similar to the 2013 elections which brought Rouhani to power. In the end, Rouhani received 57 percent of all votes."I respect the outcome of the vote of the people and the result will be respected by me and all the people," Raisi said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.The huge turnout on Friday led to the vote being extended by several hours to deal with long queue.Courtesy:DW